My son was widowed nearly 5 years ago and his wife left half of the house to their 2 twin sons in her will.
The value of the house is about £550,000.
The house is held in trust at present but they are due to be full owners in 6 weeks time (tennants in commn) when they will be 18.
My son ( the father ) has announced he will be getting married to a widowed lady.
What concerns us if the marriage does not go well for some reason would his new wife be able to take any of the son's 50% share of the house.
I am also wandering if there is any legal notice of ownership our grandsons should give to the new wife.
I am not sure what a solicitor could do about the situation at present. I have got a copy of the land certificate from when my father was alive and it say's no sale without the consent of all tenents in common.
If the father gives 25% to his new wife and keeps 25% they will have a half share and the twins will have another half so can either side force a sale?.
The only possibility is agreement should be reached at this stage or a legal battle may happen later.
In my opinion the situation is a potential minefield.
What the court will look at is the original purposes of the trust under s14 TLATA 1996. The original purposes no longer exist (since mum has died) and, subject to the provisions of her Will, either "side" should be able to force a sale. There is nothing a solicitor can really do now to prevent arguments later on. The question was whether the twins' share is safe. It is. Whilst I respect your opinion about it being a minefield, my opinion is that it is far simpler.
I do not really know about the trust deed but what I am looking at is the clause in the land certificate relating to my house when the house belonged to my father and myself.
I agree in 6 weeks time the trust deed should have no effect when the twins are 18 and take full ownership but if the clause is the same in the land certificate relating to the house in question as mine would the courts have to take that into account?.
I don't think anybody has got any question about the twin's share being safe.
What I think Martin is trying to say is there may be difficulties in forcing a sale so the twins can get hold of their inheritance due to a clause in the land certificate.
I am in a similar situation with my daughter in the fact my wife left her half of the house and I own the other half.
There was no trust deed involved as my daughter was well over 18 when my wife passed away.
I do not think these late in life marriages are worthwhile due to the problems it will cause the family so I will not get married again.
Thank you for you contributions.
My son has told the lady the situation re the ownership of the house and she does not want to marry him.
He is upset but he does understand thay our grandson's can not be expected to give up their share of the house.
I can understand the reason for the lady's decision but I also understand why his late wife left her share to the twins.
I do not think Frumpton's son is exactly poor.
Even with just half the equity in the property he has still got £275,000 of his own and possibly some savings.
My father had a partner who left because I would not hand my share of the house back so her children will inherit the house.
Both my father and myself are widowed and I returned to my parents house after being retired early in London.
When my father passed away in December several people came around saying I should give the house mainly to my fathers ex partner and share his estate with various other people.
I have lost a lot of so called friends because I have kept the house which I half owned because I inherited my mothers half and now inherited my fathers.
What these people do not realise or do not want to realise is I have spent about £70,000 on the house and many thousand of £'s on my father as my pension was a lot higher than his and I wanted him to have a similar standard of living to me wherever possible.
My father was happy he could stay in the house for the rest of his life as a result of my contribution He lived there for 54 years and had a very good standard of living untl his last day.
I am coming up to 61 and hope to be in the house for at least another 30 years.